The present invention relates to screen doors such as sliding patio-type screen doors, and specifically to such a door featuring improvements for facilitating use of the door by young children.
Screen doors, such as sliding patio-type screen doors are known to include a handle on at least one or both of an outer and inner surface for opening and closing the door relative to the surrounding entryway. This handle is typically located at a height which may be out of the reach of a small child such as a toddler. This situation creates problems for both the child and the working condition of the sliding screen door. The child may try to extend his or her body to reach a typical handle by standing on the tops of his toes or increase his or her height by grabbing the screen, stepping on the frame of the screen door, or standing on the nearest object, which looks like it can be supportive. Here, the child encounters obvious risks for injury through unstable support. In other instances, the child may merely push on the screen cloth. Further, through treatment such as this, the working condition of the sliding screen door can quickly deteriorate. Alternatively, the child may simply require assistance from an adult or taller child in moving through an entryway sliding screen door, because the child cannot open the door. Likewise, the child cannot independently close the door, leaving the interior accessible for unwanted insects, etc.
Alternative devices have been devised for opening and closing doors, however, none considers the problems discloses above or provides a way for a child to open or close a sliding screen door, and, thus, enable independent access to an entryway for a child. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,690, a device is disclosed that is attached to the bottom of a sliding screen door for opening the door with a foot. While this device may be reachable by a child, it is not constructed or arranged for enabling the child to independently open and close a sliding screen door, nor does it address this problem. Instead, through its configuration this reference actually creates gripping and other problems for a child trying to open or close a sliding screen door. For instance, the handle may not be recognized as a handle by a child, because it is positioned so low on the door and it does not appear like a handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,391,674 also discloses an alternative door handle, however, this handle is mounted on a spring-closing or gravity-closing door for use by a dog or other animal. This reference also fails to teach a handle for a sliding door or, more specifically, a handle placed at a prescribed height so as to be accessible by a child.
Another problem with screen doors is the fact that in some cases, children do not recognize the presence of a screen door and run into or through it causing injury to the child and/or damage to the door. Additionally, it is often difficult for adults to determine when a screen door is closed because of lighting, the transparency of the screen cloth, etc.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,308,875 and 5,730,196 teach panels or ornaments that can be attached to a screen portion of a screen door to decorate the screen portion and have other aesthetic purposes, such as covering holes in the screen cloth, or providing privacy. However, these references do not address the lack of airflow or ventilation through the panels.
Thus, there is a need for providing a screen door which addresses and resolves the issues identified above.
The above-listed goals are met or exceeded by the present screen door having an additional door handle, below a conventional screen door handle, which will facilitate and enable children during opening and closing of a screen door. This additional handle is more readily accessible for the child during opening and closing of the screen door. An additional feature of the present invention is an appliquxc3xa9 placed on a screen of the screen door at a child""s-eye level may provide a visual indication of the position of the screen door and indicate to a child a relative position of the screen door, and in particular whether it is closed.
More specifically, a screen door for facilitating access through an entryway by a child includes a frame, a screen mounted to the frame, at least one adult height handle mounted on the frame at a first height from a floor adjacent to the entryway; and at least one child height handle mounted on the frame at a height below the adult height handle so that a child who cannot reach the adult height handle can reach and open and close the screen door. In another embodiment, a sliding screen door is provided as described above and further including a flow-through appliquxc3xa9 applied to the screen for warning purposes. In yet another embodiment, an extended door handle accessible by both a child and an adult is formed as a single unit.